Photographer's Note

This photograph of a large pterosaur was taken in the grounds of Indodra Fossil and Dinosaur Park, Gandhinagar.

Pterosaurs (flying reptiles) were carnivores from the late Triassic to Cretaceous Period, 220 - 65.5 MYA. Let me add several additional observations. The shells of their eggs were leathery in texture, much as with moden lizards. Offspring were able to fly on emerging from shells. Pterosaurs were the earliest vertebrates to evolve powered flight. It would seem, also, that gliding was a significant component of pterosaur flight, both to conserve energy and, as well, increase the stealth effect when searching out prey. I also read somewhere that pterosaurs were quadrupeds.

Before there were dinosaurs, pterosaurs and ichthyosaurs (giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins), creatures known as captorrhinomorphs lived on earth. These were runty creatures with no necks and short tails, and legs that grew from their sides. They were around in the Mesozoic Era from 245 to 90 MYA before disappearing some 25 MYA before dinosaurs became extinct. Present-day birds did not branch from Pterosaurs but rather their origins have been traced back to the captorrhinomorphs.